LeBron and Doncic's Lakers fall to Minnesota

(AFP) In an early and frustrating farewell, the Los Angeles Lakers, led by LeBron James and Luka Doncic, were eliminated Wednesday by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round of the NBA Playoffs, with the Houston Rockets extending the series against the Golden State Warriors.

In Los Angeles, the Timberwolves finished off the Lakers with a 103-96 victory in Game 5 and a 4-1 series win.

French center Rudy Gobert, with 27 points and 24 rebounds, was an unstoppable force in the paint for the Lakers, who have been without a center since sending Anthony Davis to Dallas in February in exchange for Doncic.

The Slovenian, the home team's leading scorer with 28 points, played the entire second half after taking a hard hit to his back from Donte DiVincenzo on a drive to the basket.

LeBron James scored 22 points but could do little on defense to slow down the young and hungry Timberwolves, who overcame a poor performance from their star, Anthony Edwards, who was held to 15 points and missed all 11 of his 3-point attempts.

In a somber news conference, "King James" was evasive about his future as his 22nd NBA season came to a close

"I don't know... I don't have an answer to that," LeBron responded to a question about how many more seasons he plans to play.

"Something I'll sit down with my family, my wife and my support group," the NBA's all-time leading scorer explained. James added that he will "have conversations with myself on how long I want to continue to play. We'll see."

This resounding elimination is a tough blow for a Lakers that faced the postseason revitalized with the arrival of Doncic.

But the hope that LeBron, at 40 years old, could fight for his fifth championship title faded in a series in which Minnesota exploited the Lakers' obvious lack of size.

"I don't think I played like I should have and as a team we didn't play like we could," Doncic acknowledged. "Congrats to Minnesota, they played a great series and they were the better team, honestly."

Warriors save their strength

The Timberwolves will face the winner of the Golden State Warriors and the Houston Rockets, the latter winning Game 5 of this series 131-116 on Wednesday.

The Warriors continue to lead the series 3-2 and will have a second chance to advance in Friday's next game in front of their home crowd.

On Wednesday, the Rockets' defense managed to suffocate Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler, holding them to a just 13 and 8 points, respectively.

Trailing by nearly 30 points, coach Steve Kerr threw in the towel midway through the third quarter and sent Curry, Butler, Draymond Green and the rest of the starters to the bench.

In the fourth quarter, Kerr didn't play Curry, who is dealing with a thumb problem, when his team led a comeback that brought them within 114-101 with five minutes to play.

"We can't come out with that lack of defensive focus and energy and expect to beat a great team on their home court," Kerr claimed.

"We're fine. Our confidence is not going to waver. We just have to get off to a better start and have a good game overall," Butler said of his side.

Point guard Fred VanVleet was the Rockets' offensive leader with 26 points, including 4 3-pointers, followed by Amen Thompson with 25 points and a colossal defensive performance with 5 steals and 3 blocks.